In Lesnovo Monastery (the Church of St. Archangel Gabriel), Macedonia, there are three circles. Rugs cover two of them, and in the picture we see the third, which is uncovered. The local monk told Rossitza Olson while she visited there that the Star of David is uncovered so that Christian visitors would have the opportunity to step on it and by that to reject Judaism.
This issue of stepping on the emblem of Judaism is quite popular and “jumps” each time one sees the six-pointed star on the floor, like in the Temple Mount at the 7th century C.E. Dome of the Chain, or in the case of Vans shoes. Anyhow Anti-Semitism is no news…
Copyright 2008 Rossitza Ohridska-Olson - photographer (culturalrealms.typepad.com)
Copyright 2008 Vizantia Enterprises Inc. (vizantia.com)
1 comment:
Given the three latest posts on Bulgarian hexagrams, it's clear that the presence of the David Star there did not have initially any anti-Semitic conotations. (That was pretty obvious from the get go). That again, the Orthodox aren't huge fans of 'sacred geometry' either. (Probably because our churches are lavishly decorated with icons on the one hand; and because our theology states that we can know God directly and intimately, without being 'obliged' to 'necessarily' contemplate either nature, or our own reason, in order to do that). The depiction of God with a triangular aura is common-place, and the inverted triangle is an artistic touch... but the presence of the simple hexagram on the floor of the Church there bugs me (a possible former synagogue? Did many Jews live in that area? I honestly have no idea).
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